Russian vice PM told how “quickly” Avdiivka is being rebuilt

In the destroyed and occupied Avdiivka, one neighbourhood will be restored first, and then “a plan for further work will be drawn up,” said Russian deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin, who is responsible for coordinating reconstruction in the occupied parts of Ukraine.

“In Avdiivka, we have agreed that we will prepare one large neighbourhood for living, provide water, electricity and, if possible, heat. And then we will draw up a recovery plan,” the Russian news agency TASS quoted Khusnullin, adding that the official did not specify the timeframe for the work.

TASS noted that the start of the restoration of damaged buildings in Avdiivka was announced in late July 2024. Six high-rise buildings and 247 private houses were selected for priority repairs.

Husnullin’s comments were likely a reaction to an account of a pro-Russian activist from Ukraine Tatiana Montian, who visited Avdiivka this month.

Montian confirmed that six apartment blocks, 36 apartments each, “which were the least affected in this total horror,” are being repaired in the city.

“But everything is in progress, but winter is already outside, it’s already as cold as hell,” Montian was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian pro-Russian outlet Politnavigator.

Avdiivka in November 2024. Video from the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Donbas decides

According to Montian, even the premises allocated for the first-aid post in the town have not been repaired or provided with heating although a doctor has already arrived to work there.

There are also no conditions in the city to accommodate people from other “liberated” towns who are taken to Avdiivka to undergo “primary filtration,” Montian said.

“People were sitting in basements, waiting for many months for liberation, hiding children, somehow survived until liberation, and are now brought to Avdiivka for filtration, where there is all destroyed. There is no heating, electricity, communication, nothing,” Montian commented.

Avdiivka borders Donetsk, which Russia has controlled since 2014. Heavy fighting for the city took place from October 2023 to mid-February 2024. Russians gained full control of Avdiivka on 17 February 2024.

In March 2024, Marat Khusnullin stated to that “Avdiivka has suffered, but given the scale, that there are not many residents there, as soon as we move the contact line, we will quickly start to restore it and restore it within a year.”

“There is nothing that bad there,” Khusnullin said.

According to the Russian official, about a thousand residents were in Avdiivka at the time.

Since March 2024, the Russian army has made significant advances in the Donetsk region, including from Avdiivka.

A fragment of a map of the fighting in the Donetsk region. Graphics: Institute for the Study of War

On 20 November, Khusnullin also told https://realty.ria.ru/amp/20241120/plany-1984801389.html that plans to restore the destroyed and recently occupied settlements in Ukraine were being “drawn up.”

“We have already worked out the format of this work: when the territory is liberated, we enter it comprehensively, look at it, and draw up a work plan. We have the money for this. So, just as we have restored all the previous territories, we will quickly bring these territories back to normal,” he said.